A group of Catholic scholars, prelates and clergy
have sent an appeal to the College of Cardinals asking that they
petition Pope Francis to “repudiate” what they see as “erroneous
propositions” contained in Amoris Laetitia.

In a statement released today, the 45 signatories of the appeal say Amoris Laetitia —
the Pope’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation (summary document) on the
recent Synod on the Family that was published in April — contains “a
number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary
to Catholic faith and morals.”

The 13 page document, translated into six languages and sent to
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals as well as 218
individual cardinals and patriarchs, quotes 19 passages in the
exhortation which “seem to conflict with Catholic doctrines”.

The signatories — described as Catholic prelates, scholars,
professors, authors, and clergy from various pontifical universities,
seminaries, colleges, theological institutes, religious orders, and
dioceses around the world — then go on to list “applicable theological
censures specifying the nature and degree of the errors” contained in Amoris laetitia.

A theological censure is a judgment on a proposition concerning
Catholic faith or morals as contrary to the faith or at least doubtful.

The statement says those who signed the appeal have asked the College
of Cardinals, in their capacity as the Pope's official advisers, “to
approach the Holy Father with a request that he repudiate the errors
listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to
authoritatively state that Amoris laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as possibly true.”

“We are not accusing the Pope of heresy,” said Joseph Shaw, a
signatory of the appeal who is also acting as spokesman for the authors,
“but we consider that numerous propositions in Amoris laetitia can
be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text.
Additional statements would fall under other established theological
censures, such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous, among
others.”

Such is the climate in much of today’s Church, one of the appeal's
chief organizers told the Register that most of the signatories prefer
to remain publicly anonymous because they “fear reprisals, or they are
concerned about repercussions on their religious community, or if they
have an academic career and a family, they fear they might lose their
jobs.”

Among the problems they cite in the exhortation, the signatories believe Amoris laetitia “undermines”
the Church’s teaching on admission to the sacraments for divorced and
civilly remarried Catholics. They also believe it contradicts the
Church’s teaching that all commandments can be obeyed with God’s grace,
and that certain acts are always wrong.

Shaw, an Oxford University academic, said the signatories hope that
by “seeking from our Holy Father a definitive repudiation of these
errors, we can help to allay the confusion already brought about by Amoris laetitia among pastors and the lay faithful.

That confusion, he added, “can be dispelled effectively only by an
unambiguous affirmation of authentic Catholic teaching by the Successor
of Peter.”

Various interpretations and criticisms of Amoris laetitia have followed its publication. In particular, cardinals have debated whether or not the document is magisterial.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who presented the document in April, firmly believes it is, tellingLa Civilta Cattolica last week that there is “no lack of passages in the Exhortation that affirm their doctrinal value strongly and decisively.”

Cardinal Raymond Burke, however, believes
the document contains passages that do not conform to the Church’s
teaching and it is therefore non-magisterial, something Pope Francis
“makes clear” in the text.

Last week, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia issued pastoral guidelines for implementingAmoris laetitia
in which he clarified passages in the exhortation which appeared
ambiguous in caring for the souls of Catholics living in difficult or
objectively sinful situations. Archbishop Chaput was part of the U.S.
delegation of synod fathers at the Synod on the Family last October.

Fr. Curzio Nitoglia, "La questione del 'Papa eretico'" (Chiesa e post concilio, August 28, 2016) - unfounded inferences and misinterpretations of the censures, perhaps related in part to the fact that Fr. Nitoglia doesn't read English and didn't have available an Italian edition of the censures at time of his writing.

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

It is depressing to watch these factotums, whom trads venerate as heroes, scramble to oppose heresy by calling it poor wording, or bad translation, or "confusion." It is almost like watching bugs scrambling for life in a killing jar. Their "appeals" to Francis to repudiate, pretty please, the heretical heart of his gospel message are DOA, as dead as Ratzinger's to Kung. It is hard to believe that that they do not know this in their hearts, whatever mask they may choose to wear in public. Trads who venerate them for their good faith exercises in futility should know it too.

So the Anonymous Catholics are saying that there could be heretical interpretations of Amoris Laetitia (AL) but the Pope is not heresy. When AL suggests that a person in manifest mortal sin is not necessarily in mortal sin, and does not contradict traditional teachings on mortal sin nor Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on moral theology , Veritatis Splendor, it is not a mortal sin.So Cardinal Schonborn and Cardinal Baldiserri and of course Pope Francis cannot be in mortal sin. To assume that we can objectively know the subjective state of someone in manifest mortal sin who is not allegedly in mortal sin, is subjectivism, philophical subjectivism, The Non-anonymous members of the Anonymous Signatories ( Fr.Brian Harrison, John Lamont and Joseph Shaw) use philosophical subjectivism in the interpretation of salvation theology just as AL does with moral theology. According to their new theology, there are known cases of the baptism of desire etc in 2016 for these hypothetical cases to be explicit exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus according, to the 16th century missionaries and Fr. Leonard Feeney of Boston.So there are exceptions to all needing to formally enter the Church for them. They all accept the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 which says there are exceptions. This is not heretical for them. So when Pope Francis and the Masons suggest that there are exceptions to manifest mortal sin and that a mortal sin it not always a mortal sin, the pope and his bad cardinals are not in heresy. -Lionel Andrades

Why do we need the Old Latin Mass?We need the Old Latin Mass since it represents to us the theology and spirituality of the early ages of the Church.It comes to us from the eight century and before the eight century the Age of the Fathers and they have something to say to the Church of all ages.The spirituality of the Mass is the spirituality of the Church right up to the middle of the 20th century.That's something which is part of the Deposit of the Faith.-Joseph Shaw

Lionel:This is not true. Joseph Shaw assumes hypothetical cases , without the baptism of water are known exceptions in 2016 to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus and the old ecclesiology.This is irrational,non traditional and heretical. It is part of the ecclesiology of the Novus Ordo and Traditional Latin Mass today.So the spirituality of the Old Mass has changed.It is not the same as during the time of the Church Fathers or even the 16th century missionaries who only had the Latin Mass.If the philosophical innovation of being able to judge hypothetical cases as being visible was not there,we are back to the old ecclesiology of the eight century. Theology will not have changed.Pope Francis is permitting the Latin Mass today only because it is not part of the Deposit of the Faith, theologically. So it becomes a break with old spirituality.Joseph Shaw, John Lamont and Fr. Harrison object to the subjectivism of Amoris Laetitia but not to the subjectivism in a new theology, which contradicts the Principle of Non Contradiction.This is the staple ecclesiology of the Traditional Latin Mass.So many times I have written about this but Joseph Shaw will not comment. He, like Fr. Harrison and John Lamont would prefer to remain Anonymous on this issue.Joseph Shaw and the Latin Mass Society need the approval of the English bishops and the Vatican. They are also politically correct with the Left on this issue.The Benedictine Prior at Norcia also remains politically correct on this issue and so avoids commenting on what I keep writing. He could be one of the Anonymous signatories critical of Amoris Laetitia.The new director of the Human Life International, Rome, Fr. Francesco Giordano could also be among the 'Anonymous Group'.He interprets the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, as having 'developments', when he teaches this subject at the Pontifical University of St.Thomas Aquinas, Rome.He offers the Traditional Latin Mass and teaches the new theology, as he did, at the old Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate seminary in Boccea, Rome.Like Fr. Brian Harrison he remains non controversial and Anonymous on this issue.Lionel Andrades

I haven't read everything in the request to His Holiness, so my response is based on what little I do know on the topic.

To declare that the Pope has fallen into heresy is to declare beyond the authority of the layman. Any layman can, however, say "I can't square what the Holy Father says with what the Church has always taught." The first is different from the second because the one is the passing of a judgment on a superior, while the other is the acknowledgment that... despite appearances... the speaker holds that it may be possible, and is willing still to listen to the Holy Father.

Chris Garton-Zavesky If the 45 signatories based on objective reality and traditional Catholic moral teachings can says that Amoris Laetitia is heretical then logically they can also say that the popes and cardinals who have approved it have approved heresy.Any one who supports or affirms heresy, knowingly, even after being informed of the error, is a heretic.God' laws apply to all. Even a pope needs to go for Confession.-Lionel Andrades